The kings in the palace

By Tim Sutherland
Sun feature writer
Imagine Billy Joel and Elton John together in concert, with over 100 million records sold between them – number 1 hits too numerous to mention and two of the greatest piano players of our time. Legends, icons, megastars, and there they were on stage together at The Palace of Auburn Hills, and I was there to see them.
I was in the presence of greatness. I knew it, recognized it and felt the excitement and emotion washing over me as they opened the concert with a duet to Billy’s famous hit, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”.

Over 22,000 concert-goers who felt highly privileged to be in The Palace that night were treated to three-and-a-half hours of rock and Rock and Roll bliss and Hall of Fame songs.
This night was actually four concerts in one. The audience warmed up first to half a dozen ballads done duet style, including “Tiny Dancer” and “New York State of Mind”. Each entertainer interspersed them with a few great piano solos. Billy’s and Elton’s fantastic skills were showcased as numerous, well-placed overhead movie screens focused solely on their hands floating effortlessly, yet powerfully across the keyboards.
Billy Joel’s exit gave Elton John the opportunity to move to center stage for concert number 2, an 80-minute show that highlighted the polished, professional 56 year-old British pop-rocker who unfortunately performed at less than his best because he had a bad cold. But Elton still managed to mesmerize us with “Daniel”, “Rocket Man” and a bring-the-house-down rendition of “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” that brought the crowd up, dancing on their seats.
During the third part of this magical night Billy Joel and his band returned, not just to the stage but into our hearts and souls. Whether shaking us up with soulful, heart-wrenching songs from past marriages such as “Innocent Man” and “She’s Always a Woman”, to shaking us down as a classical rocker with songs like “You May be Right”, to rattling the walls with “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”, he put the crowd in a frenzied mood. Billy Joel reminisced about Detroit still being the Rock and Roll capital of the world by telling the story of his groundbreaking concert in Leningrad, (now St. Petersburg) Russia in 1974, where the crowd was so wild and crazy that he turned to the other band members and asked, “Is this Detroit?”
After regaling us with another 10 or 20 his intertwined with tribute short-takes to Detroit’s finest, including The Supremes, Mitch Ryder and Bob Seger, his stage exit induced a tumultuous roar, only to return immediately with Elton for a six-song encore.
This fourth segment of the concert left the audience gasping for breath, sobbing with joy and emotionally, and physically spent. Imagine “Benny and the Jets” followed by “Only the Good Die Young”, and just when we could not take anymore, they hit us with “The Bitch is Back” followed by the grand finale that brought 22,000 people screaming along with every word to “Piano Man”.
Lord help me, ‘cause I just died and went to heaven!